Arab Women and the Road to Democracy

Athens, Greece, 28 and 29 June 2011

Resolution

Over the years there have been plenty of references stressing the need to overcome the lack of democracy in the Arab world, but no attention was paid to these clear warning signs. This was not just a lack of attention in the Arab world, the international community also kept silent and put stability before human rights. Despite the many voices that indicated that the time had come to implement democracies, many regimes in the Arab world chose not to listen to the rumblings of discontent, some of them even reacted with violent repression.

It was clear from the onset that all the uprisings in the region share a common denominator: the refusal of the people to continue living under brutal dictatorships, the demand for democracy and the end of corruption, nepotism and concentration of wealth in the hands of the few.

From the first protests in Tunisia, women have played a central role in promoting the Arab Spring. From Tunisia to Egypt, from Libya to Yemen and from Bahrain to Syria women from different backgrounds and generations participated as organisers and bloggers, delivering speeches and treating the injured, demonstrating for the release of family members and publicly celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. They put themselves in danger and did not escape the human cost of this uprising. As a result of their active participation in the protests, women were allegedly beaten, harassed, tortured and raped.

The protests are about regime change, not about gender, but supporting democracy must mean supporting women's rights. As the protests continued and demands were made for new institutions women were again left out; equal representation of both genders during the demonstrations of the revolution is not reflected in the transition processes such as in new decision-making bodies, new legislative proposals and new political parties. For example, women are not represented in the commission, which has to revise the Egyptian constitution in preparation of the September elections and only one woman was appointed to the interim government. On the other hand the commission reforming Tunisia's electoral landscape for the October elections has decided that women and men should equally be represented among candidates on electoral lists.

Arab women have a different emancipation background, are at different stages of emancipation and subsequently have different demands. It is important to stress that ‘Arab Women’ is not a term and should not be used to stereotype all the women from the region. Instead, the difference in cultures, states and historical backgrounds should all be taken into account when developing and implementing policies for women living in the Arab countries. For instance women from Tunisia and women from Saudi Arabia are faced with different problems. Women in Tunisia have had human rights implemented for the past two generations while women in Saudi Arabia have very few human rights. It is equally important for the international community to understand that democracy in the Arab world can sometimes be perceived as imposed modernisation and this can cause social unrest. Democracy cannot simply be ‘planted’, it can only grow when people cultivate it in the right conditions. Therefore, a new policy towards the Middle East and the Mediterranean needs to be implemented, a global policy that supplies the favourable conditions for and supports, rather than imposes, the process of democratisation.

The international community should no longer defend stability for stability's sake, but seek to understand the social, economic and cultural environment while at the same time fostering the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights.

Women have an important role to play in taking new initiatives to the broader Middle East, initiatives designed to build and strengthen democracy, to promote and protect human rights and, to transform the culture of violence into a culture of peace and coexistence.

For over 100 years, the Socialist International Women has been fighting for women's rights and has stood up for women all around the world. The Socialist International Women has also strived to implement women’s international humanitarian rules and has worked to achieve democracy – a gender balanced democracy.

The Socialist International Women therefore urges all sides involved, in particular governments lead by socialist and social democratic parties and all member parties of the Socialist International to:

Support the fight of Arab women for democracy through peaceful means and their right to be equally part of the democratic transition processes;

Increase the awareness of women in all Arab countries of their right to equal participation in politics and more in general of the role they have to play in all spheres of life and at all levels of decision-making;

Support and help progressive Arab women to organise nationally and regionally and encourage the building of true democracies committed to promoting the empowerment of women in all spheres of life and free from all forms of discrimination which goes hand in hand with the socio-economic development of these countries;

Urge the Arab countries to free all women who were arrested and are currently in prison because of their political beliefs and/or because of their participation in the activities of the Arab Spring;

Build bridges with women’s organisations in and within the Arab world in response to a potential political backlash;

Support all social and political forces that are demanding a secular state, and encourage the creation of new rules and institutions, preserve religious diversity and respect religious minorities;

Design policies for security and

Support an open dialogue that takes into account the views of all members of society with the aim to assist the democratisation process.

Finally the Socialist International Women appeals to women’s organisations as well as Human Rights organisations worldwide to join forces and to speak out for their sisters everywhere.

 

Nobel Peace Prize Campaign for African Women

Athens, Greece, 28 and 29 June 2011

Resolution

The Socialist International Women supports the ‘Nobel Peace Prize for African Women Campaign’, NOPPAW, and signs the petition to nominate African Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2011.

The campaign is promoted by CIPSI, an Italian NGO that coordinates 48 international solidarity-based associations, and by Chiama l’Africa, an Italian campaign for a pact of solidarity with African people. This campaign is meant to recognise and enhance the crucial role women play in Africa.

Africa stands on African women's feet, millions of women carry the weight of their continent every day, taking on its tragedies and bearing its hopes. African women are the backbone of their continent and an authentic alternative for a new and more human society.

Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize 2011 to African women as a whole – a collective Nobel Prize – will raise awareness of African women’s commitment to all aspects of life and will promote peaceful cooperation on the international stage.

 

 

The Women Drive Campaign

Athens, Greece, 28 and 29 June 2011

Resolution

In Saudi Arabia some courageous women have began a campaign for women to have the right to drive in the country that has become known as the Women2drive Campaign.

The campaign for female driving rights is meant to challenge public authorities by refusing to respect the driving ban imposed on women.

The activists of this campaign decided to turn a growing number of YouTube videos that show women driving into a bigger event – a mass drive that would take place on 17 June. One of the founders and activists of the campaign, Manal al-Sharif, went out for a drive prior to the mass drive in order to raise awareness and encourage younger women to take part in the 17 June mass drive. She was arrested by the religious police for no apparent legal reason, but then later released after promising not to drive anymore. She was later arrested again for uploading a video on the Internet of herself driving, but was again released.

Her example was followed on 17 June by some other women all over the country. The exact figure of how many women participated in this mass drive is not known because of the public censorship of the campaign. The only information available came through the social media and referred to individual cases of women driving who had posted their videos or had put messages on the Internet.

The international attention raised through the Internet had an impact – most of the women driving on 17 June were not even approached by the police, the names of some of the women were reported but just two women were briefly detained followed by immediate release. None of them were arrested.

The driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia is only one manifestation of the conservative, patriarchal and sexist culture which permeates all aspects of life in Saudi Arabia, a country where women are not allowed to vote and which scores zero in the category of political empowerment according to the Global Gender Gap Report of 2009 published by the World Economic Forum 2009 and which ranks Saudi Arabia at 130 out of 134 countries for gender parity.

This situation is unacceptable and the world cannot continue to be silent.

Therefore the Socialist international Women:

Supports the Women2drive campaign;

Considers this campaign to be a step in the process of emancipation of women in Saudi Arabia;

Expresses its solidarity and admiration for all women promoting the campaign and for those involved in the event of 17 June;

Congratulates the leaders of the campaign for choosing a peaceful way to advance their request to end the driving ban for women and for their work in raising international awareness of the ban;

Condemns Saudi Arabian authorities for exercising censorship against the campaign and

States its concern of the condition of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and blames the authorities of depriving women of their human rights.

 

The Global Crisis and its Impact on the Poor – the Perspective of Women for a Fair Solution

Paris, France, 12 and 13 November 2010

Resolution

The global situation has been changing over the past years due to several economic and political developments. The current crisis, that started as a financial one and quickly escalated into an economic and social one, has not only put pressure on regulating our financial markets, but also on defining a new socio-economic development model that puts employment and growth at its heart. While budgetary cuts are on the agenda as a way out of the crisis, austerity measures of right wing governments are presented as the only solution to recovery – even when they lead to bigger social exclusion and growing inequalities, such as poverty and unemployment, which are to be expensive in the long term.

In countries with a strong capitalist model, the crisis first hit the financial sector, and most sectors in which men were predominantly employed and thus first hit by the crisis. But the second wave of the crisis affected outsourcing services based on temporary and/or shorter contracts, which are always more vulnerable and unstable in times of crisis. This second wave of unemployment and long-term consequences of the crisis affects mostly women, as 80% of these threatened jobs are occupied by them and the public service is still female dominated. As a consequence, many women are left now with little or no social and economic security.

The crisis threatens not only unemployed women, but also all those who manage to keep their jobs and who are working in poor conditions (precarious employment). The majority of these workers are also women. Women in the formal and in the informal sectors are also disproportionally affected by the impact of the crisis. For most of those who can keep their jobs, the working conditions will get worse.

Poverty still carries a female face everywhere in the world, even in developed countries, where the gender pay gap and the gender pension gap encourages the trend of perpetuating poverty among women.

The consequence of the cuts in public social expenditures is a reduction in social services, also for the basic services. This increases the unpaid care-work of women both in developed and developing countries.

The crisis aggravates further women's situation, especially the situation of women threatened by multiple discriminations (particularly migrant women, single mothers, low-educated women, illiterate women, indigenous women, women living in rural areas and lesbians and transsexual women). Their deprivation of fair and equal access to employment, support and education, may accelerate further as popular aspiration for well-known traditional models, stereotypes and for “order” intensifies. A conservative backlash in women's rights is an imminent danger.

Migrant women are more likely to lose their jobs and risk expulsions from countries where they work; the consequences are multiple including the reduction of remittances towards the countries of origin. Further negative consequences on families and on national GDPs in countries of origin are also likely. Not only does this put pressure on the economic development of the countries of origin but also on the social fabric of society and on family responsibilities. The likely result is an increase of violence against women and girls.

Never before have the livelihoods of so many people in the world’s poorest countries been so directly affected by circumstances caused by the richest countries. In addition to the economic crisis, the world's poorest countries are the most threatened by other crises as well: food crisis, exploitation of natural resources, environmental problems such as water, air and soil pollution, shortage in energy supplies and climate change.

The response to the global crisis at the moment is mainly financial and does not propose sufficient change in the model of development and economic governance, responses simply address the symptoms and not the deep causes of the crisis; analysis of the failure of the present model of development is insufficient, while the establishment of a new, fair development model requires the proper analysis of the one that led to this crisis;

the gender-impact assessment of the crisis or of the austerity measures are not carried out, and thus the social consequences of the crisis on women are inadequately addressed both in rich and poor countries;

solidarity towards developing countries decreases, worsening the situation of women and making the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals impossible;

the protection and the promotion of women's rights is not considered among the crisis management tools, quite on the contrary: stereotypes are reinforced.

The Socialist International Women therefore urges governments, in particular those lead by Socialist and Progressive forces, and all Member Parties of the Socialist International to:

propose an alternative model of development, in order to create a more inclusive, more accountable and a more democratic international system;

push for a sound economic governance that is for the benefit of all people and that goes beyond the sole financial mechanisms;

introduce a financial transaction tax in order to redistribute wealth, and use it for the reduction of inequalities between the rich and the poor, the developed and the developing; and use it for the reduction of social inequalities, including gender inequalities on the national level;

recognise a human rights-based approach in all policies, because the crisis must not be an excuse for ignoring human rights;

fight against the violation of human rights and progressive achievements, in particular women's rights in the name of traditionalism;

introduce gender mainstreaming in all policies as a horizontal method, including in budgeting;

recognise gender equality as a driving force for social and economic development: women are not passive subjects, but also actors in defining and implementing macroeconomic policies and in creating wealth;

implement gender equality in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals;

not reduce aid given to developing and poor countries, and acknowledge that a current reduction will cost a lot more later;

encourage women's access to land, water, income, energy and capital, and to financial resources as a whole;

ensure women's access to paid work and salaries that ensure women's economic independence now and in the future;

address the precarious situation of the working poor and

pay special attention to the most vulnerable women threatened by multiple discriminations.